blog #53 "calories are so bad!!"

I HATE when people say "calories are bad." Calories are neither good nor bad they are simply a unit of measurement. Calories in surplus attribute to weight gain, and calories in deficit attribute to weight loss. BUT CALORIES ARE NECESSARY FOR LIFE FUNCTION.

• a burger has a higher amount of calories then a carrot. Do you know how many calories would be a in burger? Carrot?
• carrot one medium=25 calories
• burger big mac from mcDonalds=485 calories

what is a calorie exactly?

• unit of energy
• unit of heat
• 4.184 Joules =1 gram calorie (based on one gram of water)
• 1 calorie is equal to 1 kilocalorie (kcal) or 1000 gram calorie (based on one kilogram of water)
• fats, carbs, protein and alcohol contain food energy

the differing energy densities of foods are shown in this table:

Food component	Energy Density
	Cal/g	kJ/g
Fat	9	37
Ethanol (alcohol)	7	29
Proteins	4	17
Carbohydrates	4	17
Organic acids	3	13
Polyols (sugar alcohols, sweeteners)	2.4	10
Salatrims (reduced energy fat)	6	25

35000 calories =one pound

wow that seems like a lot! well what did you eat for thanksgiving? How many thanksgivings did you eat? How many xmas parties did you attend? Leftovers....you do the math it adds up.

a preliminary form of measuring calories is through the bomb calorimeter shown below. Its been shown that measuring calories through carbs, protein and fats is a more effective way to measure food energy.